Coking retort oven



June 17, 1930. J. BECKER 1,764,065

COKING RETORT OVEN Original Filed May 22. 1922' 2 Sheets-Sheet l June17,1930. J,BEKER 1,764,065

GQKING RETORT OVEN Original Filed May 22. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJune 17, 1930 JOSEPH BECKER, OF FITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TOTHE KOIPER-S PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY, OFPITTSBURGH,

COKING naronr ovmv Application filed May 22, 1922, Serial No. 562,578.Renewed June 18, 1926.

This invention comprehends improvements of general utility in the cokingretort oven art, and also comprehends certain improvements especiallyapplicable to coking retort ovens of the well known cross-regenerativetype exemplified in Letters Patent of the United States to H. Koppers,No. 818,033, dated April 17, 1906, and in my prior patent for a cokingretort oven No. 1,374,546, dated April 12, 1921.

The invention has for objects the provision of a coking retort ovenhaving, as important characteristics: a flue construction involving thelocation of the horizontal or bus flue, which connects the tops of thevertical flame lines with each other, above the top of the retort orcoking chamber contiguous to the heating Wall containing the verticalflues, with the result that the upper part of the retort is not exposedto the effect of the hot gases passing through the horizontal or busflue and over-coking of the upper part of the coal charge anddestruction of the distillate gases which collect in the upper region ofthe retortare avoided. As a further feature to secure the above mntioned improvement the invention pro vides insulation in that portionof the heating wall which surrounds the ducts connecting the verticallines with the horizontal flue and also provides insulation between thesides of the horizontal flue and the top structure of the battery thatis located directly above the retorts, so that overheating in the upperregions of any of the retorts is avoided.

Inasmuch as the horizontal flues are located entirely above the upperzone of the various retorts, the flame flues may be increased in height,with a corresponding increase in height of the coking chambers so thatthe latter may be made narrower in width, a development greatlyfacilitating the coking of high volatile coals, and yet having adequateprovision in the horizontal flue for taking care of the increased volumeof combustion products, for the reason that the horizontal fluedimensions may be made adequate to such volume, without introducingelements of Weakness in the heat ing wall construction. The flueconstruction of the invention is furthermore of great a part of thisspecification and showing, for

purposes of exemplification, a preferred form and manner in which theinvention may be embodied and practiced, but without limiting theclaimed invention to such, illustrative instance or instances:

Figure 1 is a crosswise vertical section through a coke oven batteryembodying features above specified and equipped with the improvements ofthe present invention, the view being taken longitudinally through aheating wall and the communicably connected regenerators, in planesindicated by the line DD of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 2 is a composite vertical sectional elevation taken longitudinallyof the coke oven battery in planes indicated by the lines AA, BB and CGof Fig. 1.

The same characters of reference designate the same parts in each of theseveral views of the drawings.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the invention isincorporated in a combination coke oven battery, i. e., a battery havingprovision for being operated either with a relatively leaneXtraneously-derived gas, such as producer gas, for fuel, or with thecoke oven gas derived from the distillation of the coal in the retortsof the battery. The combination oven principle is described and claimedin the prior Letters Patent of the United States of H. Koppers, No.1,026,169, for Retort-oven for producing ga s androkef" dated May14,1912. For

convenience the resent descri tion will be confined to thepresentrillustrated embodiment of the invention in sucha combinationoven battery; the novel features and im provements made by the inventionare, how ever, susceptible of other applications, such,

for example, as ordinary so-ca'lledj, coke ovens employing coke oven gasas the fuel, or ordinary so called gas ovens employing aneXtraneously-derived gas as the fuel;

hence, the invention 1S not confined-in te,

scope to the specific use and specificembodiment herein described as anillustrative example. a a

' Referring to the drawings,there are illustra'ted: viewsof-acoke ovenbattery or plant are'directlysupporte'd by the heavy support-i ing orpillar walls 13 which extend crosswise Q0 of'the battery andare-located, as shown in of the by-product type, having features abovespecified; said ov'en battery embodies in its construction a pluralityof'cross-wise elongatedheating walls 11 and aplurality- Fig: 2, beneaththe respective heating walls 11. These pillar walls, 'together withother 'walls,'hereinafte'r described, collectively form the,IIIQIlIl'SUPPOIlTfOI' the entire superstructureof'the retortovenbatteryand arethemselves supported upon a fiat mat or platform whichconstitutes 1 the sub-foundation on 'wh'ich the entire battery rests.The coal to be coked is charged into the several coking chambers or,ovens through charging holes 14. located in the top '15 of theovenbattery and positioned directly above the ovens or chambers 12, asindi'cated'by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

" These chargingholes 14 are equipped with the usual removable-covers,which are removable during chargingiof the individual retorts or cokingchambers and are placed 1n position to close'the tops of such cokingchambers during vthe entire cokinglor distilling operation.v The gasesof distillation pass from the tops of the several coking V chambers:12through the usual gas outlets (not shown) and thence through ascensionpipes (not shown) into the usual gas collect-' ingmain which carries thedistillation products to .tl1e.by product recovery apparatus. Heat forcoklngthe charges of coal in the severalovens or chambers 12 is derivedvfrom' the heating walls 11, which, as before mentioned, extendcrosswise of the battery at the sidesof the coking chambers. Eaichheatingiwall 11 is constituted of a plurality of flame or combustionflues 17. In the present embodiment ofithe invention, the flame fines ofeach heating wall are divided into two groups E and F by the middlelengthwise line L of the retort battery. When the flame fines of all thegroups E on one side of'the'aforcsaid line L are operating for upfiow,that is to say burning, the

flame'flues on the opposite side of the said middle lengthwise line Lare operatingfor downfiow to permit exhaust of the waste gases, inaccordance with the usualpractice exemplified in 'thepriorjpatent to 'H.Koppers, No. 818,083, hereinbefore mentioned. On reversal of thebattery, the upflow flame fines of the groupsrE become downfiow flame,flues *and-tthe downflow flame flues of the The crosswise regenerators18 of the battery are located at a lower'level than the.

aforesaidheating walls'll and coking chainbers l2, and, in the presentinstance extend l in parallelism between the pillar wallsrlfi and theother heavy supporting'walls hereinafter described.- Located in themiddle lengthwise vertical plane L of the-coke oven battery,'is avertical partition 19, as shown" in Fig. '1, which partition extendsall'thei way up from the mat of the battery to the bottom ofthe-overlyingcokingchamber and a from one to the other of thepillarwalls 13 and the other walls which are between the pillar walls.The regenerators, which are respectively located in series on oppositesides of the battery extend inwardly'to said partition l9 and areseparated thereby as clearly shown in Fig. 1. If desired,eachregenerator 18 may be provided with a vertical partition 20 locatedsubstantially midway be tween the aforesaid partition 19 and theside ofthe battery.

Eachregenerator 18 is a chamber contain ing open brick work, commonlycalled checkerwork and indicated at 21, witha-distributing solechannel22underneath such ch-eckerwork, the channels forming the soles ofsuch chambers and openlngup into the checkerwork. The 'regenerators areheated;

in alternation, by the hot combustion products exhausted from the flameor combustion flues herein beforeinentioned and then feed into theseflame fines,

impart such heatto the medium that they In the'present' embodiment ofthe inven-' tion, a heavy ver'tical gas-tight supporting Wall 22 extendsdirectly beneath each retort or coking chamber in? parallelisnnbetweeneach two adjacent heating Walls 18. Such supporting walls 23 providetwo, regenerators located respectively on'the opposite sides of suchmuses and between adjacent pillar walls 13. The other walls 23 also havethe function with the pillar 'walls'13of sup- 1 porting'the' weight ofthe battery -superstructure.

This supporting wall *Ccnst-ruction provides two series ofcrosswiseextend ing. parallel gas-tight load carrying walls 1 located below thecoking chambers and intermediate heating walls, the supporting walls of,one'series 13 being directly beneath the heating walls and thesupporting walls of the other series 23 being directly beneath thecoking chambers. The walls 23 which are beneath the coking chambers areconstructed and function not as mere partitions commonly employed but astrue load carrying gas-tight walls permitting the flow of differentmedia in the checkerwork chambers separated from these walls withoutleakages from one checkerwork chamber into another and without danger ofmixing gases in the checkerwork chambers which must be kept separate inthis region of the battery.

The several regenerators on one side of the aforesaid partition 19comprises a series E which operate concurrently for flow in onedirection and the several regeneraters on the other side of saidpartition 19 comprise a series F which operate concurrently for flow inthe opposite direction. Each regenerator is provided with a series ofducts 24 all of which lead respectively to individual flame flues 17 ofthe same heating wall. As shown in Fig. 2, the regenerators of eachseries E or F are grouped into pairs G separated by the load carryingwalls 23 and the ducts 2st of both regenerators of eachpair leadrespectively to flame fines of the single heating wall that is locatedabove the pillar wall 13 which separates the individual regenerators ofeach pair. With this construction, each flame flue 17 communicates by apair of ducts 24 with adjacent separate regenerators.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the reversal in flow throughthe flame fiues 17 on opposite sides of the before mentioned centrallongitudinal plane L, together with their communicably connectedregenerators, takes place transversely of the battery, as has heretoforebeen a common practice in this art. The reversal of the battery iseffected at the end of an operating period determined by practice and bymeans of any preferred type of reversing mechanism. The function of suchreversal is as follows: the r'egenerators that prior to the reversaloperated as inflow regenerators become outflow regenerators, and theoutflow operating regenerators become inflow operating regenerators; theupburning series of flame flues switches function with the downflowoperating series of flame flues, and the supply of gas is turned oflfrom the previously upburning flues and turned on into the mains of thepreviously downburning flues.

In accordance with the present invention, the port or duct 25, whichcommunicates with the top of each flame flue 17 for draft and thepassage of combustion products from the flue, extends to a horizontalplane coincident with the top of the adjoining cok- I ing chamber 12, asshown in Fig. 2. The ports or ducts 25 of both groups E andF of eachheating wall open up into the horizontal or bus flue 26 which islocated, as provided by the invention, in the top structure 15 of thebattery above the top of the adjoining coking chamber. The horizontal orbus flue 26 is connected with all the flame fines of its correspondingheating wall and permits the waste gases from the upburning flues on oneside of the central plane L to exhaust into the downflow flues on theother side of said central plane. By extending the ducts 25 clear to thetop of the adjoining coking chambers and by the location of thehorizontal flue in the top structure 15 of the battery, the upperregions of the adjoining coking chambers are substantially unexposed toradiation from the hot gases which pass through the horizontal flue 26,and destructive temperatures'in such upper regions of the cokingchambers are avoided. A further advantage of this construction is thatthe horizontal flues 26 may bemade of dimensions adequate to accommodatean increased volume of combustion products, without affecting thedesired thickness of the upper portion of the heating wall. The maximumdiameter of each of the ducts 25 transversely of the coking chambers 12is, as shown on the drawing, a

minor fraction of the maximum diameter of the vertical combustion flues17 transversely of the coking chambers 12, and the ducts 25 are alsovertically elongated for a distance substantially as great as theminimum height of the horizontal flues 26, and

are separated throughout their vertical dimensions from the top portionsof the adj acent coking chambers 12 by walls that are substantiallythicker than the portions of the combustion flue walls 11 facing thecoking chambers at the tops of the combustion flues. The ducts 25 arealso of substantially uniform horizontal cross-sectional area from thelevels of the tops of the coking chambers 12 down to the tops of thecombustion flues 17. In order further to protect the upper regions ofthe retort 12 from the hot gases within the ducts 25 and horizontalflues 26, a vertical layer 27 of any suitable insulating material isinterposed in the heating wall structure on each side of each series ofducts 25, between such series of ducts and the side faces of the upperregion of the heating wall. Vertical insulating layers 28 of insulatingmaterial may also be provided along the opposite sides of the horizontalbus flues 26 to protect from the hot gases within the bus flues the topof the battery which is located directly above the top of the retort orcoking chamber. Preferably the insulating layers 27 and 28 extendsubstan- V meshesnels 81 are for the'purp ose Ofsupph tially'coe'irtensiv'ely with th series" of ducts? 25 and'the' horizontal flues26.

The draft through the ports or ducts 25 maybe regulated by 'Ineans ofthe usual movable dampers-orsliding bricks 29, pesitioned in theordinary way in the bottoms of the horizontal hues 26 and adapted to bereached by access fiues 30; These accessflues extend from the'top of thehorizontal fines 26 in each heating wall through the top 15 ofthe'battery, there being an accessflue positioned over each flame orcombustion flue of each heating wall. p

Extending crosswiseof the batter in each Q J L pillar wall '13 andlocated beneath the bee in wall 11 thereabove is oair of gas-sun- 7 lr: 1. ply channels 31. These'channels 31 extend fromthe 0o iosite sidesof the batter inwardly to, the central longitudinai plane L,

'as fully described in my said prior l'latent- No. 1,374,546 and arecommunicably connected with the individual fines 17 by meansOf'theusual" ducts within which. are

disposed" the usualf'gas nozzles. The c coke oven gas to the severalflame i lueson .one'side of the central plane L, when the planeL." Thesu'pplyof colze'oven'eas'tothe respectivechannelsfil 1s derived iroincoke oven gas mains of the usual type and are flues are'burning on thatside and, after rcversal, to the several 'fiaineiiues on the oppositeside ofthe before'menti-oncd central respectively located on' theopposite sides of the battery and extend"longitudinally therealong.Suitable means is provided foradn'itting or cutting. off the supply ofgas with respect to; the channels of each. side of the battery, it beingunderstood that the-supply "as maintained on one s de of the batterywhile out off from the other."

' For operating the battery alternately with the use of a specialgeneratongas, such as producer gas, one regenerator of each pair 2Gmaybe optionally connected with a pro ducer as main b vmechanism such as1s disclosed in my prior Letters Patent of the United Statesfor a Cokingretort'oven, No. 1,416,322, issuedMay 16, 192.2,so thatthe producer'gasmay bedirected-into the in-- fiow regenerators P and conveyedthroughthese're enerators into burning flame dues b Q 17 1 I I The operation ofthe batter when em- 1 a ploying a special generator gas, such ordlnaryproducer gas, is as follows: the supply of coke oven gas to the cokeoven'ol all of the gas channels 31' is cut oil. A supply of producer gasis permitted to. flow into the the inflow' regenerators "P, and passingthrough said regenerators, the producer gas is preheatedbeforebeingdelivered into the burnin flame flues'." Durin the inflow of producergas through such regenerators P,

waste gas froni -the -.downburning fines is ators WV. In the "otherregeneratorsAlof the lIlilOW series,'1nfl0w of alr'is1na1nta1nedandflowing out through mange-lemon lot the v serieson theopposite side of the battery,so that the latter operate aswaste'gasregenerpas'sing upwardly through such regener ators, the air finallyenters the'burning' fines to support the combustion of'the pro duc'e'r'ga s that' is deliveredthereto by the gas regenerators P. On reversalof thefiow, the inflow operating regenerat'ors" become outflowregenerators and concurrently the outflow operating regeneratorsbeconie'fin flow regeneratorsi' v p v In operating the battery withcokeov'en" gas in the ordinary man er, the supp'ly of producer gas tothe regeneiators P is shut oh and air is permitted to flowinto'suchre-"j generators in place of the producer gasfso thatall of theregenerators of theiniiow' series operate for inflow of air. Duringcokeyoven gas operation, a supplyof'coke ovengas is maintained in thechannels "311 which feed the upburning flues." The reversing" mechanismis operated at eac-hreversal to I claim r 1. A coking retort ovencomprising, in combination: a series ofalternatesubstan tially parallelhorizontal coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged sideby-side in a substantially horizontal row," each of said heatingwallscomprising ver tical'combustion flue's; horizontal flue's in thetopstructure above the colnngchambers' and";

the heating walls and communicably con nected with a plurality ofcombustion fiu'es 1 ofthe heating walls respectively byduct" meansextending as high as thetops-of the coking chambers adjoining saidheating walls insulating nieans'interposed between said duct means andthe opposite side faces {1 of the ieatmg walls; and insulatingmeans xextending along the opposite sides of each horizontal flue to protectfrom the hot gases in each horizontal flue thatregion of the topstructure which is located" directly above each coking chamber;substantially as specified- 2. Acokmg retort oven co1rprising, -in'combination: a series of 'alternatesubstan-i tially parallel horizontalcoking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged side-byside in asubstantially horizontal row," each" of said heating walls'f-comprisingverti calcombustion flues; ho'rizontal'flues in the" top structure abovethe coking" chambers and the heating walls and communicably connectedwith a plurality of combustion fines of the heating walls respectivelyby duct means extending as high as the tops of the coking chambersadjoining said heating walls; and insulating means interposed betweensaid duct means and the opposite side faces of the heating walls;substantially as specified.

3. A coking retort oven comprising, in combination: a series ofalternate substantially parallel horizontal coking chambers and heatingwalls therefor arranged side-byside in a substantially horizontal row,each of said heating walls comprising vertical combustion fines;horizontal fines in the top structure above the coking chambers and theheating walls and communicably connected with a plurality of combustionfines of the heating walls respectively by duct means extending as highas the tops of the coking chambers adjoining said heating walls; andinsulating means extending along the opposite sides of each horizontalfine to rotect from the hot gases in each horizontal ue that region ofthe top structure which is located directly above each coking chamber;substantially as specified.

4. A coking retort oven comprising, in combination: a series ofalternate substantially parallel horizontal coking chambers and heatingwalls therefor arranged side-byside in a substantially horizontal row,each of said heating walls comprising vertical combustion fines;horizontal fines extending into the top structure that is above thecoking chambers and the heating walls and communicably connected by ductmeans with a plurality of combustion fines of the heating walls,respectively, for passage of combustion products to and from said finesin alternation; insulating means interposed between said duct means andthe opposite side faces of the heating Walls; and insulating meansextending along the opposite sides of each horizontal fine to protectfrom the hot gases in each horizontal fine that region of the topstructure which is located directly above each coking chamber;substantially as specified.

5. A coking retort oven having a series of alternate substantiallyparallel horizontal coking chambers and heating walls therefor arrangedside-by-side in a substantially horizontal row, each of said heatingwalls com-- prising vertical combustion fines and each of said cokingchambers extending a considerable distance above the levels of the topsof said combustion fines in the heating walls contiguous thereto,combined with horizontal fiues located substantially entirely above thelevels of the tops of the coking, chambers and also above the levels ofthe tops of said vertical combustion fines and each of said horizontalfiues being communicably connected with a plurality of the combustionfines of one of said heating walls, by ducts for passage of combustionproducts to and from said vertical combustion fines in alternation, saidducts having their maximum diameter transversely of said coking chambersa minor fraction of the maximum diameter of the vertical combustionfines transversely of said coking chambers and also being disposed abovethe levels of the tops of thevertical combustion fines and below thelevels of the bottoms of said horizontal fines and communicating withthe combustion fines at the tops thereof and with the horizontal fiuesat the bottoms thereof, and being both vertically elongated for adistance substantially as great as the minimum height of the horizontalfines and separated throughout their vertical dimensions from the topportions of the adjacent coking chambers by walls that are substantiallythicker than the portions of the combustion fine walls facing the cokingchambers at the tops of the combustion fines.

i 6. A coking retort oven having a series of alternate substantiallyparallel horizontal coking chambers and heating walls therefor arrangedside-by-side in a substantially hori-' zontal row, each of said heatingwalls comprising vertical combustion fiues and each of said cokingchambers extending above the levels of the tops of said verticalcombustion fines in the heating walls contiguous thereto, combined withhorizontal fines located substantially above the levels of the tops ofthe coking chambers and also above the levels of the tops of saidvertical combustion fines and each of said horizontal fines beingcommunicably connected with a plurality of the combustion fines of oneof said heating walls, for passage of combustion products to and fromsaid combustion fines in alternation, by ducts which lie above thelevels of the tops of said combustion fines and below the levels of thebottoms of said horizontal fines and communicate with the combustionfines at the tops thereof and with the horizontal fines at the bottomsthereof; said ducts being both vertically elongated and of substantiallyuniform horizontal cross-sectional area from the levels of the tops ofthe coking chambers adjoining said heating walls'down are substantiallythicker than the portions,

of the combustion fine walls facing the coking chambers at the tops ofthe combustion ues.

J OS. BECKER.

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